Gordon Scott
Gordon Scott was an American film and television actor known for his portrayal of the fictional character Tarzan in five films (and one compilation of three made-as-a-pilot television episodes) of the Tarzan film series from 1955 to 1960. Gordon Scott was the eleventh Tarzan, starting with Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle. He was "discovered" poolside, and offered "a seven-year contract, a loin cloth, and a new last name." "Due in part to his muscular frame and 6-foot-3-inch [1.91-metre] height, he was quickly signed to replace Lex Barker as Tarzan" by producer Sol Lesser. Lesser had Gordon change his name because "Werschkul" sounded too much like "Weismueller". Scott's Tarzan movies ranged from rather cheap re-edited television pilots to large-scale action films with high-production values shot on location in Africa. In his early Tarzan films, he played the character as unworldly and inarticulate, in the mold of Johnny Weissmuller, an earlier Tarzan portrayer. In Scott's later films, after a change in producers, he played a Tarzan who was educated and spoke perfect English, as in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. Scott was the only actor to play Tarzan in both styles. Fearing he would become typecast as Tarzan, Scott moved to Italy and became a popular star in epics of the péplum genre (known in the United States as sword-and-sandal), featuring handsome bodybuilders as various characters from Greek and Roman myth. Scott was a friend of Steve Reeves, and collaborated with him as Remus to Reeves's Romulus in Duel of the Titans. Scott also played Hercules in a couple of international co-productions during the mid-1960s. As the péplum genre faded, Scott starred in spaghetti westerns and Eurospy films. His final film appearance was in The Tramplers (filmed in 1966; released in the United States in 1968).
Known For
Credits
- 2017 · Tarzan: Lord of the Movies as Host / Tarzan (Archived Footage)
- 1998 · In Search of Tarzan with Jonathan Ross as Himself
- 1997 · Investigating Tarzan as Self
- 1973 · Women in Cell Block 7 as (Archive Footage)
- 1968 · The Movie Orgy as Self (archive footage)
- 1967 · Top Secret as John Sutton
- 1967 · Danger!! Death Ray as Bart Fargo
- 1965 · The Tramplers as Lon Cordeen
- 1965 · Hercules and the Princess of Troy as Hercules
- 1965 · L'Attaque de Fort Adams (Une aventure de Buffalo Bill) as Buffalo Bill
- 1964 · Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West as Buffalo Bill
- 1964 · Thunder of Battle as Coriolanus
- 1964 · Hero of Rome as Mucius
- 1963 · The Lion of St. Mark as Manrico Venier
- 1963 · The Tyrant of Lydia Against the Son of Hercules as Goliath / Gordian
- 1963 · Hero of Babylon as Nippur
- 1963 · The Conquest of Mycenae as Glauco / Hercules
- 1963 · The Shortest Day as Soldato (uncredited)
- 1963 · Zorro and the Three Musketeers as Zorro
- 1962 · A Queen for Caesar as Julius Caesar
- 1962 · Gladiator of Rome as Marcus
- 1962 · Kerim, Son of the Sheik as Kerim
- 1961 · Duel of the Titans as Remus
- 1961 · Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World as Maciste / Samson
- 1961 · Goliath and the Vampires as Maciste (Goliath)
- 1960 · Tarzan the Magnificent as Tarzan
- 1959 · Tarzan's Greatest Adventure as Tarzan
- 1958 · Tarzan's Fight for Life as Tarzan
- 1958 · Tarzan and the Trappers as Tarzan
- 1957 · Tarzan and the Lost Safari as Tarzan
- 1956 · The Steve Allen Show as Self
- 1955 · Tarzan's Hidden Jungle as Tarzan